At the height of the financial crisis, tanking commodity prices forced Tim Duncan and his partners at a private equity-backed oil and gas company to send money back to the bank and deploy its smaller pool of capital to only the most lucrative spots.

Now, Duncan and his partners have started Talos Energy with $600 million in equity from previous backers, assets in the Gulf of Mexico that produced more than 16,000 barrels of oil per day last year and a team of more than 60 professionals in Houston. Field operators along the Gulf Coast bring the company's head count to 120 employees, up from 15 when it struck a deal with private equity giants Apollo Management and Riverstone Holdings last year.

WorkplaceDynamics this year named Talos the best workplace among local small businesses, and Duncan says it wasn't through offering work-hard, play-hard perks like Friday happy hours or on-site day care.

Talos may fall in the middle of the pack when it comes to compensation, but Duncan and his team put a piece of the equity pie into the hands of their geoscientists, receptionists and all other employees at its Houston office. The risk belongs to the management and the rewards to the talent.

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"This is an environment where we're all going to row the boat together," Duncan, chief executive of Talos, said in an interview. "We're trying to put something tangible in their hands. As a private company, there's no analyst who can tell us what it's worth. Only what we decide to do makes it worth more or less."

After acquiring an oil and gas producing subsidiary of Helix Energy Solutions for $620 million in February, Talos is in the market to buy again, and with about $475 million to $500 million in projected revenue this year, the company is poised to hire and grow more.

The company's entrepreneurial bent attracts a type of DNA that loves knowing every move makes or breaks Talos' value. When emails from the boss come at 10 p.m., Duncan wants his employees to know he's trying to make them money, he said.

Duncan, who climbed the private equity ranks from reservoir engineer manager at Gryphon Exploration, says his bosses through the years have all wanted to hear what he had to say, which motivated him to work harder. Emulating that has been one of his goals as a manager, he said.

After retiring from the oil and gas business a few years ago, geoscientist Ben Winkelman was lured back in by the chance to drill one more well. He likes that he can get any idea out into the open during company meetings, even when it's tough news.

"That's very rare," Winkelman said. "Together, you can sit there and say, 'Why are we doing this? Will it add value to the company?' "

Value can be defined in plenty of ways, he said: It could be increased productivity, improved safety measures or more profit. It's all on the table, he said.

For Michael Harding, chief accounting officer and controller at Talos, a smaller company offers a bigger job. He most recently worked for Apache Corp., a giant compared to Talos, but he likes being able to know all of the engineers and geologists at the company - everyone makes a bigger impact.

"Being private equity, it's more entrepreneurial than being a public firm, although we all know the goal is to maximize returns," Harding said. "But when you're in a startup, you get to think outside the box."

Another employee reported to WorkplaceDynamics that the startup feel is invigorating: "There is never a dull moment. We are a small enough company where the work we do really does make a change in the company."